Kyra John, a fifth-grader at Ilchester Elementary School, studied for weeks to prepare for the county's third Black Saga Competition, sometimes missing recess to pore over facts about Benjamin Banneker, the Underground Railroad and ancient African empires.
On Saturday, her efforts paid off when Kyra and her teammates, Korliss Britt and Jordan Griffin, took first place among the eight elementary school teams in the event. The students received medals and applause, but Kyra said the true reward was learning about her heritage.
"I really liked to learn about what happened in the beginning of our country, and how people have struggled through a lot of things that made our country what it is today," said Kyra, 10.
The Black Saga Competition, held at Wilde Lake Middle School in Columbia, was modeled as a quiz show that tested teams of three on their knowledge of black history. Two competitions were held, one for elementary students in grades four and five, and one for middle-schoolers in grades six through eight. A team from Cradlerock won the middle school competition.
The Black Saga Competition was created by Charles M. Christian, the Maryland-based author of Black Saga: The African American Experience: A Chronology, published in 1995.
The statewide competitions, which started in 1992, are sponsored by Coppin State University, Towson University and the Maryland Geographic Alliance at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. This year, the state competition is scheduled for March 15 at Towson University Union and Burdick Hall.
Howard County has been holding Black Saga competitions since 2006. This year, elementary teams were added for the first time, said Mark Stout, curriculum coordinator of secondary social studies, who noted that the event has grown so large that it might have to be moved from Wilde Lake Middle School to a larger venue next year.
Teams do not need to win at the county level to move up to the state event. Some teams go straight to the state competition, while some compete at the county level and stop there, Stout said.
At Wilde Lake, to accommodate the growing number of teams as well as the enthusiastic audience of parents, teachers, advisers and principals, the competitions were held at the same time, in separate parts of the building.
